Historic black hole image celebrated on first anniversary

In April 2019, a massive advance was made in space science. A group of astronomers snapped the first-ever photograph of a black hole. This month, scientists are celebrating the first anniversary of the image.

NASA explains what a black hole is like this: “A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space.”

As a result of the fact that no light can escape from a black hole, people cannot see it. This is one of the reasons why it was so exciting to capture the first image of the a black hole.

The image of the black hole was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration which is a multinational research project set up specifically to capture images of black holes.

Of course, an achievement like this warrants the celebration of its anniversary. Many have taken to social media to look back on the historic photograph. Have a look at what some had to say:

In case you missed it: Here are some of the faces of the @ehtelescope that made the first black hole image possible – it is a global collaboration indeed! The clip was made at our collaboration meeting in Nijmegen and released exactly one year ago before our big press conference. pic.twitter.com/Gro52ikPYm